The Four Cats of the Apocalypse
by YesterdaysPast
Summary: If you know anything about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, this story is written for you. I own neither the four horsemen or warriors, although that would be awesome. The full summary is inside because it wouldn't fit in this box. R&R. woot!
1. The Four Appear

**Summary: Four strange cats appear one night at the monthly gathering between the warrior clans, and all four are accepted into Thunderclan. But slowly, terrible things begin to happen. Disease ravages the cats, and their prey sources begin to disappear rapidly. Some cats already lie dead, and war quickly looms over the horizon. Could these four strange, but seemingly gentle cats be the ones creating the horror? **

**A/N: If you know anything about the four horseman of the apocalypse, some of this will make sense to you. If you don't know anything about the four horsemen, I advise you to go look them up as they're really cool and fun to read about. :)  
**

**The story is better than it sounds, at least I think so. My boyfriend actually gave me this idea, so all credit goes to him. ^_^**

**_The four cats are as follows:_**

**Reaper: The "pale horseman" in the story. Pale gray (as in a very very light gray) with dark amber eyes.**

**Flare: The "red horseman" in the story. Rusty orange-red fur with light green eyes**

**Tempest: The "white horseman" in the story. Pure white fur, deep blue eyes**

**Shadow: The "black horseman" in the story. Black fur, dark green eyes.**

* * *

A full moon shone down on four huge oak trees that stood in a ring, surrounded by bushes and different kinds of shrubberies. In the clearing spaced in the middle of the four trees, dozens of cats milled about, talking quietly to each other, others staring up at the silhouettes of four cats sitting on a large gray boulder. Suddenly, one stepped forward, a large fiery orange tom with sparkling green eyes.

"I will start off tonight's gathering with a word of warning to Tallstar and the warriors of Windclan." Firestar meowed, nodding respectively at the older leader. "One of Thunderclan's newest warriors has seen a couple of foxes heading off towards the moors. Other than that, Thunderclan is healthy and thriving." The younger leader stepped back, allowing Tallstar to take his place.

"Thank you Firestar; we will keep a close watch for those foxes. I too have nothing to report other than Windclan is also thriving."

The two other leaders, Leopardstar and Blackstar only had news of good hunting and healthy clans, so Blackstar was about to break up the meeting, until a high pitched yowl broke the chatter that had built up in the throng of cats sitting below the giant rock. Four cats pushed their way through the bushes until they came face to face with the four leaders. The red one, the obvious leader by the way he held head and tail high, stepped forward.

"Greetings. My name is Flare. May I ask what you all are doing here?"

The four leaders looked at each other, then back at the red cat. "We are gathered here for a meeting held once a moon. We exchange information on our enemies; mainly foxes and two-legs, and we also recognize our newest clan warriors." Firestar meowed finally.

"Clan? You are all in a clan?" Flare asked, eagerness shining in his eyes.

"Great Starclan, no!" Leopardstar meowed, sounding faintly amused. "There are four clans living in the forest and surrounding territories. I am the leader of Riverclan, who holds claim to the great river. Firestar is the leader of Thunderclan, who reside in the thick forest, Tallstar is the leader of Windclan, who live on the open moors, and Blackstar is the leader of Shadowclan, who live in a swamp."

"That's quite an arrangement, and so organized!" Flare muttered to himself. More clearly, he meowed, "May we stay with you for a while? My friends and I have been traveling for some time now, and we would like to have a permanent home, at least for a while."

"Well…" Leopardstar looked around at the cats below here. "I suppose-"

"Wait!" Firestar interrupted. "Thunderclan will take you all in, so you won't have to be separated." His warriors all nodded and meowed their agreements.

"My deepest thanks, Firestar." Flare meowed respectively, the three cats behind him nodded and smiled at the cats.

"So this meeting is over?" Blackstar meowed impatiently. The other leaders nodded, and all the cats began to break off into their respective clans for the return trip.

Firestar gathered up his warriors. "Who are your friends, Flare?" The leader asked.

"This is Tempest," Flare meowed, indicating the white cat, "This is Shadow," he pointed to the black cat, "And this is Reaper." The pale cat grinned, showing off sharp, pure white teeth. Firestar nodded, and Thunderclan began to head back to their camp in the forest.

Flare looked back at Tempest, Reaper and Shadow with teeth bared, eyes burning with evilness. Their plan was in motion, falling into place exactly as they hoped it would. Soon, the downfall of the warrior clans would begin.

* * *

**So, what do you think? It probably needs a bit more work, because I was at school, and in a hurry to write everything down so I wouldn't forget it.**

**Anyways, review if you'd like. I'm thinking chapter two will be up by the end of this week. :)**

**~Yesterdays****Past****~  
**


	2. The Plan

**I forgot to do this in the first chapter, so I'm doing it now: I don't own the Warriors series, or the Four Horsemen, although it would be completely awesome if I could.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

The morning after the gathering, Firestar had called a meeting to explain why four unknown cats were in his clan's camp, and then ordered a hunting patrol to go out. Flare had said that since he and the other three already knew how to hunt, they would go, as Flare put it, "to repay you for giving us shelter." Firestar was confused, but agreed. So Flare, Tempest, Shadow and Reaper went out into the forest.

"I'm getting impatient, Flare, when do we begin the plan?" Reaper growled, flexing his long, lethal-looking claws onto the spongy ground.

"It won't be long now." Flare muttered. "But do we want it to be only Thunderclan that pays the price, or shall all the clans be judged?"

"Ever clan cat must, and will die." Tempest hissed. "Let sickness rage through their camps and weaken every pathetic excuse for a cat there. They don't deserve to live after what we've witnessed from them."

Flare nodded. "So let it be. War will purge them of friendship, sickness will weaken them, and hunger will kill them. Death is but a heartbeat away."

"I get to kill the worst ones first, though." Reaper meowed. "The worst ones deserve the worst deaths."

"Name one cat that deserves your completely scary and psycho way of punishing, Reaper." Shadow meowed. "I hate them all, but is there really a cat so evil that he deserves to be…well…you know."

"Leopardstar. You saw how she sided with Tigerstar back when they were known as Tigerclan. You saw how she just let Stonefur die. She deserves her punishment. But don't worry, I'll make it quick, if I feel up to it. Besides, Shadow, it's not as bad as starving them to death."

"But it will kill off the youngest and the oldest of the clans, insuring no future population. It's smart, and deadly." Shadow retorted. Reaper hissed at the black cat, and Shadow flashed him a challenging look out of his dark eyes and smirked.

"Quiet." Flare ordered. "Our plan cannot fail. We have watched these foolish cats from the very beginning, and now we have come to destroy them. If they are not destroyed, they will continue to act in their foolish ways."

"Once they all lie dead, we can rejoice." Tempest meowed happily.

"Good, it's settled, then. You three go back to the camp and tell Firestar I've gone to explore a bit. I need to obtain the help I need for the plan to begin." Flare commanded, and Reaper, Tempest and Shadow nodded and turned back towards the Thunderclan camp, while Flare took off to the borders.

He knew just who he would go to for his "help." Windclan seemed to be the peaceful clan of the four. Well, time to change that.

He soon found what he was looking for; a WindClan patrol was just passing by, and the musty scent was thick in the air. Flare rubbed up against as many rocks and bushes as he could to get the scent onto his fur, then quietly padded back to the border line, a line of bushes and one small tree.

Flare shook out his pelt, and the scent of Windclan enveloped him and everything around him as he took off for the Thunderclan camp, pausing to kill a small bird and scattering its feathers all around the spot where the Windclan scent lay, satisfied that he had begun feeding the fuels that would eventually snap and become a fiery rage of war.

* * *

**So dramatic. I'm intending for this story to be kind of gruesome, as it's a story about death, sickness, war and starvation. But I promise it won't be horribly terrifying when you read the upcoming chapters. ^_^**

**Oh, and I apologize for the shortness of the chapter, I had to get the four cats talking about the plan before any long chapters could be put down.  
**


End file.
